REminder

[removed account4]

if you haven't used or currently aren't shooting a eastern block or soviet / russian camera you have no idea how empty your life has been. they may be clunky clones but they are worth every ruble.

 

[BrianShaw]

Woe is me… my life is hollow… and may perpetually be so. Woe is me!

 

[Vaughn]

At 1.5 cents American per ruble...

I had a 120 Russian camera to check out to students...rarely any takers.

 

[cramej]

At 1.5 cents American per ruble...

I had a 120 Russian camera to check out to students...rarely any takers.

They're missing out....I like the Kiev 4A, though it doesn't quite fit my hand. Winding and shooting is really nice.

 

[Craig75]

I would like to remind members that if you arent using the Monagasque build of the Mecaflex then you've pretty much failed at life

 

[Vaughn]

I would like to remind members that if you arent using the Monagasque build of the Mecaflex then you've pretty much failed at life

That goes without saying around here.

 

[NB23]

I had a kiev88 back in the day. Drove me crazy, and that shutter noise: WHIRRR ZINGGG!
Shot one roll, sold it on ebay to another poor fella. Poor guy.

And then one day my dad brought home another kiev 88 that he purchased at a garage sale for like 15$. I didn’t want to go through all the grief of shooting a roll. Sold it off locally through Kijiji, as-is.

The very good thing about those kievs are the cheap finders that fit hasselblads and rolleiflexes through adapters.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Does a Lomo Lubitel TLR count?

 

[NB23]

Mecaflex? First time I heard. Googled it... looks like a fine device to hide condoms

 

[Helios 1984]

I like to use my Praktica L because, when I fire the shutter, the people around me just cannot compute what they've just heard.

 

[George Mann]

I use both a Fed 3 (75% viewfinder is difficult to use), and a Praktica MTL3 (meter underexposes 1 stop).

Despite their quirks, they are fun to use.

 

[removed account4]

Does a Lomo Lubitel TLR count?

yup, great camera !
I had one gifted to me back in the 90s ... always wanted a sputnik after that ..

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I like to use my Praktica L because, when I fire the shutter, the people around me just cannot compute what they've just heard.

Ah, they dive for cover, grab the picnic cloth and pull it over them...

 

[itsdoable]

if you haven't used or currently aren't shooting a eastern block or soviet / russian camera you have no idea how empty your life has been. they may be clunky clones but they are worth every ruble.

There is a Wabi Sabi truth to this statement, but the Practisix/Pentacon Six is no clone!

And my Kiev-88cm is much more reliable than my Hasselblad 1000f from which it was cloned.

 

[removed account4]

There is a Wabi Sabi truth to this statement, but the Practisix/Pentacon Six is no clone!

And my Kiev-88cm is much more reliable than my Hasselblad 1000f from which it was cloned.

they are certainly works of art ! I have an ARAX 60 purchased from a friend here on this site, bought some lenses from FSU, absolutely love that camera. It makes nicer pictures than most of the WesternBlok cameras I own, and keeps better time than the clock my uncle brought back from Hyastan.
Does your 88 have the meal shutter plate or the fabric one?

 

[itsdoable]

...Does your 88 have the meal shutter plate or the fabric one?

The 88cm is cloth, the 88's are metal - they (Hasselblad & Kiev) used metal because they provided more accurate speeds, but in my case, the 88cm is in better operating shape, the plain 88's need a CLA...

 

[Alan Johnson]

Here is a review of the Salyut:
https://www.mikeeckman.com/2021/10/arsenal-salyut-1957/
I never quite had the nerve to bid for one.